1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to containers used for packaging articles for shipment as well as for displaying those articles at a point of sale. More particularly, the present invention is directed to systems for shipping and displaying which are adjustable in their configuration, which are readily erected at a point of sale and which are inexpensive so as to be disposable, when no longer needed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Packaging arrangements are known to have a dual function of both containing or holding articles during shipment and to function as a display for those articles, typically at a retail store, convenience store, drug store, club store or mass merchandiser such as regional and national grocery stores. Such arrangements provide a material handling advantage in that they eliminate the need at the retail outlet to remove the individual articles and to place those articles individually on shelves, racks or other store fixtures, so that the articles are available to the consumer. When shipping and display arrangements are used, it is only necessary at the retail store to open the shipping container and, with minor adjustments, put the modified shipping container in a location accessible to the consumer. Oftentimes, stores are arranged in aisles with a special area being reserved at the end of each aisle for standardized product displays. For example, wire racks are provided as end extensions of opposing aisles, on which product displays are carried.
Arrangements for packing, shipping and displaying articles are sometimes utilized by an organization which produces or otherwise handles a wide variety of products having many different shapes and forms. For example, larger manufacturers of consumer food products may need to package, ship and display articles in glass and plastic jars and bottles of different sizes and shapes, bags of fragile food products, such as potato chips and tortilla chips, tubs of various food products, such as cottage cheese and dips and packages of meal or snack kits containing a variety of components. A mass merchandiser is under continuous pressure to ship on short notice special orders to stores or other customers who require an assortment of articles, oftentimes arranged in a palletized load. Such special purpose assortments can arise from the need of the customer to display seasonal promotions, for product roll outs of complementary food articles and to present a family of food articles to a consumer, such as different sized packages of the same food product. In order to meet increasingly stringent time demands, a mass merchandiser must be able to readily package and ship special orders upon receipt of the orders. Increasingly, orders are sent and received in electronic form, processed by programmable computers which operate at very fast speeds, such that orders are often received and shipped on the same day.
A commercially successful shipper display arrangement should be flexible in its configuration, that is, be adjustable so as to accommodate a wide variety of different articles. In order to provide substantial material handling advantages, the same shipper arrangements should be readily adaptable for displaying the articles being shipped. Consumers are becoming increasingly conscious of aesthetic values and it is important that shipper arrangements be converted to display functions without requiring mutilation of the packaging materials. Furthermore, commercially successful shipper display arrangements should be of such low cost as to permit their disposal when no longer required.